Recycling and plastic waste in your home

[TYJ]

I was really shocked to learn over 90% of plastic household waste that goes into the green bin WON'T get recycled.
I support this small UK business, who are telling the truth about what happens and actually providing a sustainable and simple alternative.

Do you reuse plastic in your home? What do you think about the recycling of household plastic in the UK?

I live in a block of flats that has communal bins. The recycling ones clearly say what can and cannot be put in the bin. It seems a large proportion of my community either doesn't care or can't read the words on the bin. Personally I think it's the first one.
As soon as the bin is 'contaminated' it goes to landfill.
Basically my household recycling is at 0%.
I think far too many people in the UK just don't care. They really don't.
It sucks.

Really sucks!

I really worry that recycling doesn’t actually get recycled but shipped to Turkey or something. I hate plastic.

While tin cans and glass are usually recycled, I don't trust that plastic will be. Therefore I use as little as possible. Refillable containers, bars of soap/shampoo instead of bottles etc.

I don't know how good our council is at actually recycling what is put for recycling. I think on that head I'd rather be in a fool's paradise trying to do the right thing.

I hope that the plastic I put into my local authority recycling box actually gets recycled, but yes I do worry that it isn't.

I've cut quite a bit of our plastic waste by using a refill shop and taking our own containers, but we still have three or four 4-pinter plastic milk bottles and often yogurt tubs every week. I have looked into delivery of milk in glass bottles but it would be really expensive

Our local milk round delivers to the corner shop. I pay 70p/pint instead of the 93p it would cost if I had them deliver to my door. Economies of scale, you see.

Our council will not take any plastic that isn’t stamped as 1 or 4 for recycling. No plastic bags or wrappings. No Tetra Pak or anything that feels waxy like gravy granules packets. No lids from jam jars. No cardboard. No hard plastic. No labels
to be on anything and the labels are to go in the black bin. No egg boxes of any type. Black bins are overflowing whilst the recycling will go out maybe once every 6 months? I think we have the second to lowest recycling rates as a county.
Previous council took everything and anything. They asked for it all in one bin, except small electrical and batteries which went in a small open bag atop of the recycling bin. We had two large recycling bins and used one every two weeks, occasionally both of them. They regularly hit top figures in recycling.